Snapped
by Babelvr54
Summary: Ranger murders someone right in front of Steph to save her from certain death. The aftermath. Rathing just to be safe. NOW COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

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Regan Wallis was a lunatic. He was also the lunatic with a knife on her throat. Now, normally Stephanie Plum wouldn't hesitate to kick the shit out of him, but he had her at every disadvantage. It was a simple distraction job, she fit the bill of women that he was normally attracted to and she had even put in the extra effort to add some sparkle to her eyes.

The guys were eying the two of them, Lester and Bobby had a gun trained at Regan, whilst Tank was standing five feet away, his hands fisted at his side. Stephanie didn't know where Ranger had gone off to, but she hoped that if today was her last day on the planet, then he wouldn't be there to watch her die.

Trembling as she thought back, she remembered suddenly being thrown, the knife thinly scratching her neck. She fell into Tank's arms in time to see Ranger slice Regan's head with his own knife. She saw the barely concealed rage and fury in his eyes. She could feel the warm blood splash her. Tank had carried her out of there before she could see Regan fall to the ground, but she knew she would never forget the _thud_ and the _crunch_ of the body falling to the ground and the sound of breaking bones.

She shook as she realised what she had witnessed. Bobby was looking concerned as he checked her vitals. She hadn't stopped trembling for the past hour.

The soft rhythmic tapping of boots made Stephanie aware that someone was about to approach her. The smell of Bulgari engulfed her and she started trembling violently. She pushed Ranger away with as much force as she could muster, but in her weakened state, it didn't get her very far.

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A/N: Okay so yeah my life is falling apart but I will have most of this story up tonight. Please review, and sorry for any and all mistakes. Trying something new here, so please bare with me. I'll have them together in the end


	2. Chapter 2

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Ranger POV

I have taken many lives and I know that there's a distinct possibility (however reduced since he's stopped doing government contracts) that he would take lives in the future. Since we had started dating six months ago, there have been many discussions on what I did for a living, and Stephanie for the most part had realised that there will always be a grey area in my life. I knew that she had accepted and rationalised everything I did in her own way.

Except, she had never seen anyone murdered in front of her eyes in cold blood. Shooting someone and slicing someone's neck are two distinctly different things.

I knew that she would never be able to accept the monster that I am. She, who is so pure and light could never accept the filth that I am.

Right now though she doesn't have a choice. I am not going to let her go. There are too many dangers out there, and no one, there is no one in this world that could protect her like I do. I have killed for her before and I killed to save her today. I don't feel an ounce of guilt for either. But she does.

I know that she wants to run as far away from here as she possible can, but I can't let that happen, because I know that if she leaves, she will never return. And that is unacceptable. I have felt heaven in these six months and I am not ready to let that go.

I will make sure that she is safe. Regan Wallis is rotting six feet under, where he belongs. He will never see the light of day again.

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A/N: Yeah he's a little bit crazy in this story, but he would never hurt her. It would be great if in your review you could tell me about how at the time everything seemed hopeless but then you somehow pulled through and everything is so much better now. Cause I think I'm a hairbreadth away from a breakdown.


	3. Chapter 3

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I walked down the hallway making sure that my feet made enough noise so as not to startle my Babe. I know my men will take care of all the paperwork and all the alibis. The whole scene is made easier by the lack of witnesses.

I enter Bobby's office to see him gently tending to my Babe. She is shivering like she's been in the deep freezer for the past ten minutes. I need to hold her and make her feel warm again, but I could feel her struggling to get away from me. That small little push hurt more than any bullet would ever did. Sorry Babe, I can't let you go right now. We both need this. I can't have her afraid of me. I can't have her wanting to leave me. I need to keep her safe.

I picked up her shivering form against Bobby's protests and strode to the elevator. I need to get her upstairs in our bed where she can rest peacefully. She always said that being on seven felt like a safe little cocoon. I know she loves the smell of my sheets. I think Ella made a choco lava cake for her, I bet she'd like that right now.

I can feel myself losing control as we get to seven. She is struggling against me, but I don't think I could release her from my arms if I tried. Regan tried to take my very life away from me today. The bastard hurt my Babe. I see the thin scar on her neck and I can feel the urge again. I feel the need to bash his dead body in so that even in his afterlife he can be a miserable sod.

We get to the bedroom and I finally release her. She steps away from me to the other side of the room where the armchair resides and breaks down into giant sobs. She is crying so hard that she can't breathe. I want to go to her. I want to hold her. But I don't. I know that she needs time to deal with this. She's always known what I am capable of, but today she saw it firsthand. She saw the reality of the man she shares her bed with every night. She saw the truth of a soldier, a man without a soul.

I would let her leave, but the moment she signed on for a relationship with me, that option was no longer available. I know that if she steps out of the safety of Rangeman, her life will be in danger. None of my enemies would hesitate to kidnap and torture her just to get to me.

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A/N: Ranger can't let her go now even if she wants to break up cause she'd be in danger. Hope that is clear in this chapter


	4. Chapter 4

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RPOV

Stephanie fell asleep on the armchair and I didn't have the heart to move her in case she woke up. I sat down against the wall next to the armchair. I thought about what went down today and if I could've done anything differently. There was no way to get her out of the situation alive than what I did. Anything less and she'd be dead.

 _I was standing behind Regan but he did not know. He was focused on my men in front of him. I saw the signal from Tank and I made my move. With a move that can only come with practice and precision, I knocked his hand away from my Babe and pushed her into Tank's arms. Regan, in an attempt to hurt me tried to slash me with the knife, but I was too fast. I used his own momentum against him to slash his neck. I felt a sick satisfaction overcome me as I heard the quiet crunch on his neck snapping as he fell to the ground. Tank had already grabbed my Babe and was waiting for me in the car. He transferred my precious bundle off to me and went back in to take care of business. I held onto my Babe as Hector drove us back. Babe seemed to be in shock as I handed her off to Bobby. She seemed frozen and hadn't uttered a single word. I passed her off to Bobby knowing that he'd take care of her before I went back to help my men clean up._

I drifted back to the present as I heard my Babe whimper in her sleep. Kneeling in front of her I could see her crying in her sleep. Unable to bare the distance between us any longer I picked her up into my lap and rocked her, hoping to break through her nightmare.

Her sharp blue eyes opened and she took in her surroundings. She didn't try to push me away, instead sat up in my lap.

"Do you think I'll go to hell when I die?" she whispered.

Her question broke me. How can she even imagine that she would ever end up in hell? How can she think so little of herself. She reached up to my cheek with her left hand and wiped off the tear I didn't know that I had shed with the pad of her thumb.

Suddenly, she launched herself into my chest and wrapped her arms around me. Her embrace was so tight that I could feel all bits of myself binding together.

She spoke once more, her voice barely above a whisper, "You had to take a life to save mine. I can't have to darkening your soul to protect me. I can't have that on my conscience Carlos."

"Stephanie, you know that these six months have been pure heaven for me. I will sell my soul to the devil if it means a lifetime with you." My voice was gravelly and I couldn't help but tighten my arms around her.

"You don't give yourself enough credit Carlos, you would be fine without me. I don't care that you murdered that man in cold blood, he was a terrible person. What I care about is who you turn into once you do take a life. You start thinking of yourself as a monster, a man with no soul. I have a problem with that."

I was stunned. I imagined that she was afraid of me, afraid that I'd hurt her or afraid of how much at ease I was with taking a life. Instead she was worried about _me_. She had somehow figured out my thoughts and cared enough to try to set me straight.

"I…" I didn't have any response to that.

She held onto me and she cried. She wept for all the lives I've had to take. She wept for all the innocents caught in the crossfire and she wept for me. In a way, her crying was a release for me. I could never shed those tears. I could never show so much emotion, it would leave me raw, so she did it for me.

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A/N: I hope this chapter explained everything. She isn't afraid of him. She's afraid for him. She's scared of what she saw on his face.


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